All Posts In » 2009 » May » 05

Oh man I’ve missed out on a lot of news in the past week. I was trying to figure out what to do with all the press releases. As a solution I decided to bring back the weekly news round up. I plan to do this every Friday but I’m testing to see how this will work so Tuesday is fine. Let’s begin: VIZ Pictures to Release Happily Ever After on DVD! VIZ Pictures has announced the DVD release of the live-action feature film HAPPILY EVER AFTER on May 12th with a suggested retail price of $24.92 U.S. / $35.99 CAN HAPPILY EVER AFTER is an award-winning visually striking romantic comedy from celebrated director Yukihiko Tsutsumi about a married couple’s unconventional relationship. To complement the release, VIZ Pictures has launched a HAPPILY EVER AFTER giveaway contest for a prize package that includes the DVD, film poster, a premium Japanese cotton

Yesterday, we attended a pre-E3 event held by Capcom at the W hotel. We were able to sample three games the first of which is Spyborgs for the Nintendo Wii. Spyborgs has an interesting past. It’s a title that Capcom was working on to tie into a children’s IP. The game producers didn’t think aspects of the game felt right, so Spyborgs went dark and underwent a makeover. Spyborgs emerged as a co-op brawl type game. It’s a co-op on the Wii that works well and actually rewards players for working together with synced attacks. There are three main characters in Spyborgs, Caldestine is the quick female fighter, Bouncer is the big tank with area affects, and not shown was Stinger who uses ranged comment. We were promised more about Stinger at E3. The title has simple controls using the buttons for simple attacks and for moving around. There is

One of the most critically acclaimed “casual” video games of recent years, Peggle has been downloaded nearly 50 million times and appeals to gamers of all shapes and sizes. “Our new adaptation of Peggle for iPhone and iPod touch was truly a labor of love,” stated Andrew Stein, director of mobile business development at PopCap. “We spent huge amounts of time specifically optimizing this version of one of our favorite games to one of the world’s coolest devices, so that it was just right.” Exclusive to the iPhone and iPod touch versions of Peggle, the game boasts an array of specifically optimized features. These include a special ‘zoom’ feature for extra-accurate aiming, new types of style shots, a special aiming wheel for precision control, a new trophy system, and an enhanced UI to take advantage of the Touch and iPhone’s intuitive touch interface. Peggle is available now for US $4.99

Blizzard has announced today that tickets to the fourth BlizzCon gaming convention will go on sale May 16th. There will be live coverage of the event on DirectTV Pay per view again and an internet stream will be available this year. In case you didn’t know, Blizzcon takes place at Anaheim Convention Center in Anaheim, CA on August 21 and 22. “BlizzCon always offers us a great chance to meet players and celebrate our shared passion for gaming,” said Mike Morhaime, CEO and cofounder of Blizzard Entertainment. “We look forward to delivering another entertaining and memorable experience to all attendees and to those joining us from home.” Tickets to the convention will be priced at $125 each and you can purchase them at www.blizzcon.com. A second block of tickets will go on sale on May 30 if you are unable to get tickets the first time. Tickets go incredibly fast

I don’t have a picture for them, but Harmonix and MTV Games have announced that replica Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet guitars will be the standalone music peripheral controllers for The Beatles: Rock Band. We did get that the logo above is the official logo for the game. The Rickenbacker 325 and Gretsch Duo Jet guitars were used by John Lennon and George Harrison throughout their careers. They will be available for $99.99 in the US. These wireless controllers join the Hofner bass controller and the Ludwig-branded Rock Band 2 drums. All the controllers will be compatible with other Rock Band titles. The Beatles: Rock Band Pre-Order club goes live today. If you pre-order the game you get a code that lets you into the pre-order club. This gives you access to news and behind the scenes stuff. You can check it out at www.thebeatlesrockband.com. Follow

Canadian Xbox gamers don’t get to participate in all the contests and sometimes I’m sure they feel left out. Well Xbox is making them feel special with a beta of 1 vs 100 exclusively for Canada gamers. The beta runs from May 8, 2009 to May 24, 2009. Every eligible player in the beta will receive entries into the Canadian Beta 1vs 100 Sweepstakes to win actual real prizes. You can read about the prizes here. 1 vs 100 won’t be launched until Spring of 2009 in North America and Europe.You can find the FAQ here and information on how to sign up. Follow

Bioware has confirmed that the PC version of Dragon Age: Origins won’t come with SecuROM. They have assured their fans in the game’s forums: ” We’re happy to announce that the boxed/retail PC version of Dragon Age: Origins will use only a basic disk check and it will not require online authentication. In other words, the retail PC version of the game won’t require you to go online to authenticate the game for offline play. We have chosen not to use SecuROM in any version of Dragon Age that is distributed by EA or BioWare.” Dragon Age: Origins is due out at the end of the year for PC, 360, and PS3. Follow

EA has announced that EA Redwood Shores Studios has been renamed to Visceral Games. The name change is a move to better identify the studio’s culture and what type of games they are working on. This is the studio that created Dead Space, is working on Dante’s Inferno and Dead Space: Extraction. There are two other unannounced titles they are working on as well. “Action, intensity, excellence. It isn’t just in our DNA, it’s in our blood,” said Glen Schofield, VP and GM of Visceral Games. “For the past two years, we have adopted a new culture that prizes excellence above all else. Primal action is the beating heart of the studio and now our new name reflects that.” Visceral Games also has a branch office in Melbourne, Australia. The new website is www.visceralgames.com . Follow